BALTIMORE (MD)
WBAL-TV, NBC-11 [Baltimore MD]
April 7, 2023
By Lisa Robinson
Survivors of child sexual abuse gathered Friday outside the Archdiocese of Baltimore to demand more transparency after the Maryland Attorney General’s Office released its report Wednesday.
| LIST: Report lists abusers by name
| LINK: Attorney General’s Report: Child Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore
Survivors, who held signs and childhood photos, applauded the release of the report and passage of new legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations on civil lawsuits.
Teresa Lancaster said she was abused by a priest in the 1970s while she was a student at Archbishop Seton Keough High School.
“I really want to applaud the attorney general’s office for releasing the report, for doing something. It is one organization that finally stood with survivors. I applaud that,” she said.
The attorney general’s scathing report reveals the scope of more than eight decades of abuse and coverup within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. More than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the archdiocese sexually abused more than 600 children and often escaped accountability, the investigation found.
“The reason the diocese got away with this, if you look through (the report), is they had control of the media, editors, the judicial system — they had judges making sure cases didn’t get through, they had control of the Legislature,” said David Lorenz, the Maryland director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests and an abuse survivor from another diocese.
| VIDEO BELOW: ‘It’s time for people to know’: Church sexual abuse victims speak out
“We’re calling the diocese to do four things: Publish the names of the predators in the attorney general report that are not on the list, including all of the redacted names — they are still hiding behind that redaction list; provide the entire assignment history of each predator on the list and the last-known status. Where did you know they were?” Lorenz said. “They are still being secretive about publishing the names … They haven’t published all the names. We not only need the names, we need to have the assignment records of every one of those priests.”
“Please release the names. Let us see the predators. Let us see the ones who moved the predators. That’s the blackout stuff with the church leaders moving them from parish to parish and letting them abuse more children. If they had stopped (Father Anthony Joseph) Maskell in 1966, I would not have been abused in 1970,” Lancaster said.
Survivors received support from other abuse survivors who came from other jurisdictions, like Frank Schindler, of New York.
“There’s a point, to me, being a survivor from another diocese, some of the priests named in the AG report came to Baltimore from other diocese and abused children,” Schindler said.
| VIDEO BELOW: These are the signs of abuse parents need to know
Resources for victims
- The Family Tree (child abuse prevention)
- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
- The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
RECENT TIMELINE
Maryland Attorney General’s
Church Sex Abuse Investigation
In the 1990s, the Archdiocese of Baltimore received complaints of sexual abuse involving some of its priests dating back decades.
Our sister station, WCVB, reported the clergy sex abuse scandal exploded in Boston in 2002 after The Boston Globe revealed that dozens of priests had molested and raped children for decades, while church supervisors covered it up and shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish.
In 2018, a sweeping Pennsylvania grand jury report accused senior church officials of systematically covering up complaints involving more than 1,000 children who were molested by roughly 300 Roman Catholic priests since the 1940s.
More victims in Baltimore came forward thereafter, leading the diocese to publish the names of dozens of clergy members accused of child sexual abuse dating back to the 1950s. The Maryland attorney general’s opened an investigation in 2018 that ultimately revealed decades of child sexual abuse and leadership’s efforts to cover it up.
The following is a timeline of the events that followed.
June 1, 2017
The Netflix documentary series “The Keepers” reveals a long-standing and baffling cold case, focusing on a Baltimore County police investigation into the disappearance and killing of Sister Cathy Cesnik. – Story
June 2, 2017
“The Keepers” focuses on a killing and years of molestation at a Baltimore high school, and it has helped to bring more victims to light. – Story
June 6, 2017
The story of young women who say they were abused at Archbishop Keough High School in the late 1960s through the early 1970s is highlighted in “The Keepers.” – Watch: Victim speaks out to 11 News
Aug. 16, 2018
Baltimore sexual abuse victims hope release of grand jury report in Pennsylvania will lead to action in Maryland. – Story
Sept. 25, 2018
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh launches a review of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. – Story
Nov. 9, 2018
11 News I-Team Exclusive: Baltimore Archbishop William Lori addresses church sex abuse scandal: “We have to be held to the same high standard we hold our priests and lay employees and volunteers to. We should have the same standards and the same consequence.” – Watch
April 24, 2019
The archdiocese announces an additional 23 names of deceased priests and brothers previously and credibly accused of child sexual abuse to the diocese’s online list. – Story
Nov. 17, 2022
Frosh files a motion to release an investigative report of child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. – Story
Nov. 18, 2022
Court issues ruling, redacted report can be released after redacted copy is prepared.- Story
Feb. 24, 2023
Sexual abuse survivors call on report to be released, investigation expanded. – Story
March 15, 2023
Court receives redacted report for review. – Story
April 4, 2023
Judge authorizes report’s release. – Story
April 5, 2023
Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office released the report, which reveals decades of child sexual abuse and the archdiocese leadership’s efforts to cover it up. The report lists 156 current or former Catholic clergy, seminarians, deacons, teachers at Catholic schools, others as having abused hundreds of children.- Read the Report | Victims | List of Abusers | Exclusive: Lori responds | Signs to watch forThe same day of the report’s release, the Maryland House bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases, the Child Victims Act of 2023, was approved and sent to the governor. – Previous Report on the Bill